Operations Assistant

Reporting to the Executive Director, this is a really important role for the organisation, a small charity with around 20 employees. The primary function of the role is to keep the office running smoothly; you will also be supporting our trustees and governance of the charity, as well as assisting with recruitment and HR administration. 

You will be someone who enjoys building productive relationships with people at all levels, both in person and online; the role includes managing our Executive Directors Diary, and organising Trustee meetings, so that will include liaison with our trustees, important funders and partners – a high level of verbal and written communication skills are essential.

The role is based at our offices in Brixton, and because of the nature of the role, it is office-based. We are happy to consider either full time or part time working (a minimum of three days or the equivalent hours. 

• Let us know whether you would prefer to work full time or part time, and the working pattern that you would prefer.

Areas of Responsibility

Office

Keeping the office tidy and well managed – this includes:

·       Support the office by ensuring stocks of tea, coffee and basic stationery are maintained.

·       Handling one-off purchase requests for special items.

·       Organising team meetings and occasional working lunches.

·       Respond to queries and information from the team.

·       Working with external IT support for IT problems e.g. sending broken laptops to IT support team.

·       Maintaining a record of our laptops and other equipment.

·       Being the lead administrator for our CRM system, Zoho, and HR database, Breathe.

·       Managing the office email box where we receive general emails, circulating and responding to incoming mail as needed.

·       Answering calls to our virtual landline, passing on messages as appropriate.

·       Supporting the Executive Director with diary management.

·       Assisting the wider team with travel booking.

 

 

 

Governance 

·       Supporting our trustees, committees and expert advisory group through liaison and scheduling meetings.

·       Collating and sending papers out in advance of these meetings.

·       Administrative support at meetings.

·       Preparing minutes of meetings.

HR

·       Support the Team with recruitment, posting jobs, and coordinating interview times and dates.

·       Organise onboarding for new employees, including IT provision, DBS checks and induction.

·       Supporting HFO with developing the use of our HR Database.

·       Ensuring leave, training and basic HR information is accurately recorded.

·       Supporting SMT to organise away days, office party, etc.

·       Supporting staff wellbeing initiatives.

·       Work with the HFO to develop our EDI and other policies. 

 

This job description is intended as an outline indicator of general areas of activity only. The Food Foundation is a small charity and as such all staff are expected to vary their duties as necessary to meet the needs of the organisation.

Further developments to the role, time permitting, may include involvement with some of our exciting projects or supporting the Finance Assistant.

 

Person Profile

·       Experience of planning and organising your own workload and dealing with conflicting priorities.

·       Comfortable working under pressure and flexibly switching between tasks, often at short notice.

·       Excellent IT skills with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office.

·       Experience of working with spreadsheets and databases.

·       Ability to maintain electronic diaries of a team and experience of coordinating meetings, both internal and external.

·       Good oral and written communication skills and experience in using a variety of communication methods.

·       Experience of minute taking for formal meetings of up to fifteen people.

·       Using initiative and discretion to action items requiring immediate attention, referring matters to others as appropriate.

·       Ability to solve problems, using information from a variety of sources to aid analysis and make timely decisions, with high attention to detail and proven ability to be methodical and accurate.

Experience of using Zoho, Canva or Breathe is desirable but not essential.

 

Personal Skills

·       High levels of professionalism, with the ability to use absolute discretion, initiative, and personal judgment for dealing with sensitive and confidential matters.

·       Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively, build good relationships and influence others.

·       Demonstrable evidence of good practice in relation to equal opportunities and diversity.

·       A motivated and proactive attitude with a commitment to ongoing professional development.

·       Confident working with staff and stakeholders at a senior level in the organisation.

This role is offered as a Grade 1 or Grade 2 level post, depending on the level of experience of the person appointed. Accordingly, the salary will be between £25,642 and £31,450.

Responsibilities of the role will be adjusted according to the grade appointed and the number of hours worked.

• Let us know whether you would prefer to work full-time or part-time and the working pattern that you would prefer.